laplayaheritage

“Centre City ‘was often criticized for keeping all of the downtown tax-increment money downtown, yet the critics choose to ignore that it was illegal to do otherwise,’ bristles Graham.’’ But wait. The Fourth District Court of Appeals just ruled that it is legal to take money out of Grantville redevelopment and send that to downtown. Over $31 million! This suggests if CCDC or The Downtown Cheerleaders had the will, they could have transferred downtown tax increment to other communities. They wanted to keep all the Centre City money downtown, plus suck it in from other communities. Besides, Katheryn Rhodes is correct. California redevelopment law allows TI for affordable housing to be spent anywhere in the region, not just within the project area.

The twin star and partner of CSD, the Downtown San Diego Partnership, was recently reported by Reader's Dorian Hargrove to be hiring a "homeless outreach" director, who will be paid using the assessments imposed on downtown property owners.

I'm not sure if Filner can succeed in controlling the CSD/DSDP powerhouse with Todd Gloria enabling their joint improper and continually selective misuse of public monies, but I'm confident he'll try. I would be even more confident if Filner had Peterson, Rhodes, Damashek, and Erie advising him.

The leaked "Confidential" transcript of the Closed Session covers 7 minutes. Exchanges between Filner and Jones occurred within only 6 minutes and 30 seconds (Filner enters the room at 9 a.m. and 30 seconds and the transcript ends at 9:07). It's all pretty tame, and from the immediate question Filner poses, "And what is Mr. Jones doing up here?" it's clear that the issue of Jones leaking confidential discussions had been hashed out previously. He was there to goad. And Todd was his partner in this amateur-hour theater.

I can imagine Todd Gloria, eagerly eying his Boy Scout chronometer second hand, with gavel poised and coming down at EXACTLY 9 a,m, on the dot. Filner's late, I'm the man today!

For context, Jones, working in the City Atty's office during Aguirre's term, worked to elect candidate Goldsmith and then conspired with Goldsmith to fire the Aguirre-era city attorneys that Sanders wanted out. A long Jan 28, 2009 Reader article (reprinted in a single page here: http://obrag.org/?p=3709 ) detailed how Jones was involved. It also reminds us that Mary Jo Lanzafame, who was in the June 18 2013 closed session meeting with Jones and Filner, was among six attorneys from the Casey Gwinn era rehired by Goldsmith.

Can anyone tell me which Shakespearean drama this all most closely resembles?

I suspect Filner always has more than he lets on, and infuriates the media by keeping it to himself...

Remember who Judge Howard Shore is? He is the same Judge who Bonnie Dumanis ordered to make rulings against medical marijuana defendant Jovan Jackson during his 2nd trial. Jovan was acquitted during his first trial but Dumanis vowed to persecute him again. Flunkie and troll Judge Shore ordered that Jovan could not use a medical marijuana defense on the grounds that all of members of Answerdam Collective must have participated in growing the cannabis used to serve its members.

Because he was denied his medical marijuana defense, Jovan was found guilty at his second trial but filed and won an appeal to that conviction in the Fourth District Court of Appeal (People v. Jackson Cal. Ct. App. - Oct. 24, 2012). This Judge is an idiot and count on him to make so many crazy rulings that courtroom observers will be scratching their heads in disbelief.

Hmm... vandalism? Like that butt-ugly polychromatic statue they erected near the waterfront? Theft? The Murph retrofitting and ticket guarantee? If the crime is large enough, there is no prosecution. "WE ONLY CRUSH LITTLE PEOPLE" So mind your place, citizen. And leave that dangerous, felonious chalk at home! MOST OF ALL, never criticize our "Too Big To Fail" banks. Because their executives will pull the strings on a judge and you'll be in court where the judge will cavalierly declare the First Amendment somehow vacated for the day. VERY CONVENIENT.

I actually called the UT today and asked why I could find zero trace of this story. They called me back and told me they were working on it. It's a national story but I guess they're just a little behind the times.

Judge Howard Shore is dead wrong. Not a single media report ever said it was likely that Olson would be sentenced to 13 years in prison but that is the possible sentenced he faced under California law. Judge Shore had the discretion, under California law to sentence Olson to 13 years in prison and a $13,000 fine for exercising his First Amenment rights.

The fact that such a sentence was unlikely, or that he never intended to impose such a draconian sentence, is besides the point. It was possible, and would have been legal which is what fueled the outrage. His self-serving post-verdict rationalizations are meant to mask the fact that he made a mockery of the Constitution by becoming the first judge in the United States to issue an order specifically prohibiting the words ree Speech"and First Amendment¨ from being mentioned in a court room and then issuing a general media gag order. His insinuation that the jury was influenced by media publicity is an insult to the jurors and the entire jury system.

If the City Attorney didn´t intend for such a draconian sentence to be a available to the judge as a sentencing option, than why did they overcharge the case in the first place? Because Jan Goldsmithś intent was to send a message to protestors that dissent the establishment finds offensivewill be suppressed with the full force of the law. But it is the people who sent a message to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith and Judge Howard Shore. Both should be removed from office at the voters earliest opportunity.

"waive all Fourth Amendment rights guarding against search and seizures"

This horrific "deal" deserves more attention. The DL suspension threat pales in comparison. The extreme nature of this Constitutional infringement makes it pretty clear that the heavy-handed charges had to be taken very seriously.

It's a shameful dodge for the judge to complain that "The media set the tone in this case by talking about a potential 13-year sentence. It had a tendency to infuriate the public instead of informing it. Anyone in the system, the lawyers and anyone involved, knew that maximum sentence would never be handed out but still it was reported."

The tone was set by Goldsmith's DCA's overreaching charges. That's what infuriated the people who read about this prosecution, not headlines detailing the charges.

By the way, Judge Shore, all of us in the lay public are not "anyone in the system." When we are told by government lawyers that we are being charged with 13 counts and 13 years, we don't laugh and shrug it off with your kind of insider understanding. Those were the charges and that's what was reported. Next time, Judge, tell the attorneys to drop the threats and thus the leverage and then there won't be any headlines to embarrass them and you.

I'm very proud of the Reader for this piece, the entire coverage of Jeff Olson's ordeal, and for exposing the audacity of the City Attorney for prosecuting Olsen with taxpayer dollars (the City Attorney should not only be dismissed but also be order to pay all court expenses out-of-pocket). This made National news, and thanks to Mr. Hargrove, it is a perfect example of how alternative weekly publications are notoriously necessary, since mainstream media fails to provide proper coverage on how all branches of government are so easily manhandled by huge corporations. Olson has proven his point here, even more so than having done nothing more than drawing what amounts to harmless hopscotch chalk patterns on city sidewalks, in that large corporate entities seem to be powerful enough to direct the government to cast off a shoe and use it to smash us often-helpless slugs into submission. Good job Mr. Hargrove, and good job Mr. Olson, I thank you both.

That's a nice idea, Fred. I like it. Also, Filner could announce he isn't going to attend any more closed sessions until Goldsmith apologizes to everyone and Andrew Jones apologizes to Rosa Parks' family.

Don, you are like a breath of fresh air. I agree with everything you say here including your always polite replies to the comments. I particularly agree with your last paragraph:

"But the politicians whose names are being thrown around to replace Filner, if he can't overcome these obstacles, are those who would turn the City back to the downtown boosters. Now that is a BIG problem."

There is a lot of money involved downtown and on the waterfront. I fear that that is really what this is all about. Filner is refusing to play their money games and they want somebody who will. I hope for the sake of all of us that he survives.

Until Filner became mayor, I never understood how the Democrats in City Hall are just as horrible and craven as the Republicans. That's why they hate him so much, because Filner shows that they are Dinos, just like you said.

Ponzi---"The anemic [how about "sell-out"] governance of Dick Murphy and Jerry Sanders has left San Diego starving for leadership." It has no doubt, also left San Diego with city staffers that want for & are loyal to comfortable old ways.

Mayor Filner's impelling force is changing a HUGE problem that San Diegans urged him to at the polls last November.* This change has to be a severely painful adjustment for everyone.

“. . . Perhaps Filner really does have “a problem” . . . Try watching City TV. The City has never moved so fast. Infrastructure, cleaning bird shit on rocks, sewer jobs getting sped up, bike lanes, balanced budget, a compromise on Plaza de Panama that looks great (and will get better when patios/landscaping/planters added), homeless shelter extensions, bike lanes, mobility projects, transportation corridors…1st democratic mayor & majority council in what? 37 years or something? . . . .but being an [bleep] hasn’t stopped him from moving stuff forward that has been in deadlock my entire life. So yeah, #TeamBob.”

When lawyers quote poets, they lack facts. Filner did not approve the Sunroad project, the council overrode his veto, this fact seems to be lost, if there is corruption, and I believe Sunroad corrupt, the focus should be on the council, if the money never paid the City is supposedly corrupt, then we should consider that the money Sunroad poured into City elections, checks that were actually cashed, might help explain why Sunroad believes it can ignore property law, and build in violation. I support Filner, but welcome an investigation.

I voted for Filner as a good guy with a bad temper. He usually makes the right enemies.

Psycholizard: Agreed. The accusers must come forward with specific examples. Increasingly, I am coming to believe that Filner, always known for his arrogance and abrasiveness, treats both women and men abusively. Possibly he is tougher on women, but I am not sure of that. These are bad qualities, but they do not merit his being driven from office. I am also beginning to believe that the conspirators trying to drive him from office are the usual suspects -- the downtown business establishment -- but this time in league with top-level Democrats. Best, Don Bauder

Problem with Filner is that he gives a lie to the third way Democratic Party mode that's been so popular since Bill Clinton. Filner is actually interested in serving the City of San Diego and he fights to do it. I can't stand the Tea Party and their hangers on, but they are aggressive about whatever awful things they want.
I'd kill to see the Dems get so energetic about financial reform or health care. And Occupy doesn't count since they stayed so far above the fray they died from from lack of care and feeding (coordinated law enforcement efforts against the groups that hadn't broken any laws didn't help).
I'm reminded of what Abraham Lincoln once said about General Grant, "I can't spare this man, he fights."
San Diego has precious few leaders that actually fight for something worthwhile.